


Freaks Like Us

by RealityXIllusion



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: 1800's remember, Anne notices things, BAMF Barnum, BAMF P.T, Barnum gets really angry, Barnum has issues, Barnum is one of them, Barnum is protective, Blood, Bromance, Completed, F/M, Gen, Gun Violence, Historical Inaccuracy, Hurt/Comfort, I think I channelled Wolverine, Insecurity, It totally shouldn't have been and Barnum is against it, Lettie is a mother-hen, P.T Barnum angst, P.T Barnum doesn't know he is loved, P.T Barnum doesn't realize he is loved, Past Homelessness, Phillip worries, Slavery is a Thing, Street Fights, They don't know how to react, Use of "N" word, W.D Worries, angst all around, bullies basically, cursing, others are mentioned - Freeform, sorry this is so short, tags to be added later, the others are worried, the others don't realize he's like them, they're called freaks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-03-11 16:50:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13528497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealityXIllusion/pseuds/RealityXIllusion
Summary: Violence towards the people of P.T Barnum's Circus from protestors has grown ever since the fire and none of them want P.T Barnum to know, only he knows more than he lets on.(Basically a Bamf Barnum who is really protective but feels he doesn't have a right to be and is more insecure then he should be.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is breif use of the "N" word in this story, this was a time of slavery so that word is unavoidable but it is not something I enjoyed using so it's literally only used once in this story.

Just because things have changed lately and some people have become less obvious of their dislike towards them all, that didn't mean that the people of P.T Barnum’s Circus could find themselves relaxing anytime soon when going out. After all, they were just freaks in other people's eyes. Though that didn't mean they had to force themselves to feel uncomfortable when they have all the right to be who they want to be. 

A lot of people didn’t seem to agree with that. 

Whether it was just one of them walking by themselves or with any of the others it seems that all of the time people would have their eyes on them, whispering behind their backs. More often than not people would throw some things at them like rocks or call out harsh words, taunting them. But ever since that first fight that broke out and ended with their are home being burned to the ground and Phillip almost getting killed, they all tried their best to avoid getting into fights. Of course there were those who managed to corner some of them and tried jumping them, even if they would defend themselves they would never let it get out of hand. 

It wasn’t something spoken aloud but for some reason, all of them, even Phillip had agreed that anytime one of the cityfolk tried jumping any of them they wouldn’t tell Barnum. It wasn’t that they were ashamed that they were getting into fights as though they will little kids, it was just that they weren't sure how Barnum would react if he knew. None of them were willing to find out, So they kept any words of fights between them and others a secret from Barnum, any injuries they got were hidden and taken care of by one of the others, most of the time it was Phillip treating their wounds.

They managed to keep it all a secret for a couple of months. It was easier than they thought it would be to keep it hidden from him, But then again whenever they saw Barnum he had his two little girls by his side unless he was working as ringmaster for the night, which if he was then he was too busy getting ready for the show to notice anything going on.

Tonight was one of those nights where they had three shows to do in one day, their performances were some of their best and the day was going well up until the last show of the night. None of them noticed it right away, it was actually W.D who realized what was happening, most of the others were in the backroom section of the circus tent and it was only because W.D didn't head back right away that he saw a group of men heading towards Barnum few minutes after the show had ended and the stands cleared out.

“Oh no…” W.D whispered as he easily recognized most of the men as protesters who he’d seen threatening the Circus for weeks. 

“P.T Barnum!” The one man in the front, who had short brown hair cut down to his scalp and a thick beard. He was more than likely the leader of the group seeing how everyone else stayed back as he moved forward and talked. “The leader of this little freakshow.” The man sneered. 

Barnum smiled politely at the man, “Sorry Sir, but if you’re here for a show, you’re too late. We’re done for the night.”

Off to the side, W.D looked around frantically, not wanting to walk off should something happen, and when he caught his sister’s gaze he mouthed the word ‘trouble’ and gestured for her to go find Phillip. W.D turned around just in time to see that all of the men had spread out and now had themselves forming a circle around Barnum making it difficult for W.D to see the man. 

“No-nonono….” W.D muttered feeling his heart leap into his throat.

Oblivious to W.D panicking at losing sight of him, Barnum was the definition of calm in that moment. Not once as the men moved around him did Barnum take his eyes off of the bearded man that addressed him initially, but he made sure he was aware of where each and everyone of those men stood. 

Barnum had a feeling he knew exactly where this little confrontation was leading. 

The bearded man scoffed loudly and spit on Barnum’s foot but Barnum didn’t react other than forcing his polite smile to widen the longer he stared at the bearded man.

“Since we have no more shows tonight, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Barnum said apologetically, “After all this is private property that at the moment you are trespassing on, which is illegal.”

The condescending look on bearded man’s face was nothing short of mocking as he spoke, “Oh? And who’s going to make all eight of us leave? Just you? The lone ringmaster who can’t even keep his life together?”

Barnum’s eyes narrowed but he did not react otherwise. He knew if he played his cards right then this could turn in his favor. 

There was no spoken order but as one all the men chose that very moment to attack Barnum, who was thankfully prepared. 

Barnum dodged the first punch and grabbed the fat man’s arm and pulled harshly to cause the man to tumble into the way of a oncoming fist aimed at Barnum’s temple. While the fat man was trying to regain his bearing, Barnum smashed his elbow into the side of the man’s head and watched dispassionately as the man collapsed to the ground. 

Barnum could hear shouting from off to the side and realized that the others were still here, but if they came out then these men would just try to target them and Barnum knew if they did that and anyone from the Circus fought back then he would lose the upper hand and they would all get into trouble. Gritting his teeth as he realized he wouldn’t be able to take his time with this fight, but have to rush things along, Barnum kicked at his staff, hooking his foot on it causing it to lift off the ground and he caught it in the air before turning with the force of this body and smashing the end into someone's cheekbone, whoever it was fell quickly enough. 

That’s two down, six more to go.

Barnum stick his leg out tripping one man and reached out to grab the back of his collar as he snatched another man’s collar and swung them towards one another, forcing their heads to collide.

Four left.

Barnum couldn’t help but grin as one man came running towards him with his stance wide open. It’s certainly been a while since he was able to let loose like this, and Barnum had no qualms in not holding himself back. He waited until the man was closer, he was tall with practically no meat on him. Barnum curled his hand into a fist and launched it into the man’s chest, not only making him stumble but gasp loudly as the air was knocked out of him. Not giving the man a chance to recover, Barnum grabbed him by the front of his shirt and brought the man hurtling towards him at the same time as Barnum brought his head crashing forwards into the man’s face. 

Barnum could see blood pooling out of the man’s nose as he dropped him to the floor.

Three more left standing, two of them were clearly nervous and the last man the one who confronted Barnum was only looking angrier by the second. 

Barnum knew that this man was who he had to be the most careful with, he was an unknown amongst all of them and that was not something Barnum was comfortable with. 

The smallest of the three of them took one look at Barnum, who smiled cheerfully at him, before he turned and literally took off running out of the tent. Barnum couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped him as he watched the man run off. Laughing was definitely not the smartest thing to do seeing as it only managed to anger the remaining two. 

From out of the corner of his eye, Barnum could see Phillip and W.D both rushing towards him and Barnum started to turn towards them to tell them to stay back when a loud popping noise echoed throughout the tent, the loudest thing to be heard echoing in the silence that followed.

Barnum wasn’t even aware of what happened, his eyes were immediately drawn towards W.D and Phillip to see if they were alright, but they both stopped where they were and the both of them looked horrified about something.

It was the feeling of something warm and sticky slowly inching its way down his skin, just below the shoulder in his arm, that caused Barnum to turn his attention to himself. It felt similar to when a fly would land on you and slowly crawl across your skin. The warmth and stickiness he felt was blood, a darker shade of red then his own coat and Barnum was honestly upset to see the tear in the fabric of his iconic look as ringmaster.

“Oh dear god…” 

Barnum’s eyes shot up to look at the two men left standing in front of him, the one looked sick as he was staring from Barnum back to his companion which caused Barnum to look over at him as well. 

The bearded man had a gun in his hand, one that still had smoke wafting in the air around it. 

Suddenly it struck Barnum what had happened.

That man shot him. He actually pulled out a gun and shot him. Barnum’s heart began beating loudly in his chest and for a moment he felt as though he couldn’t breath as all the sounds around him stopped. 

Just as quickly they returned, sounding louder then before causing Barnum to wince as the sounds assaulted his ears causing his head to feel as though someone was knocking on it like it was a door they needed open. 

“I’m not getting mixed up in this…” The other man muttered hysterically, backing away from all of them. Then he too took off running just as the man before him had. 

There was only the bearded man left.

“Idiots the rest of them.” The bearded man shot Barnum a leer, “You want to get rid of the freaks, you get rid of them yourself.”

Forcing himself to concentrate on the adrenaline still rushing through his body instead of the pain in his arm or the panic that threatened to swallow him whole, Barnum angled his body so he could face Phillip and W.D who were still frozen in shock. Once he was certain he had their eyes on him, Barnum gestured with his hand for the two of them to slowly back away. To get towards the other’s and hopefully understand that he wanted them to leave the area as quickly as possible. 

Barnum knew he was only human, he couldn’t be certain he could protect any of them in that moment. He knew the bearded man was going be unpredictable but he didn’t expect him to pull out a gun.

The bearded man began chuckling to himself as he slowly stalked towards Barnum and lifted the small handgun back up until it was level with Barnum’s head. 

He man have been a showman, putting on acts for the world and even the people closest to him, but in that very moment Barnum wasn’t sure if he was able to hide it from the expression on his face but he knew his body felt how terrified he was to have that man pointing a gun at his head.

Bracing himself, and not even knowing if his plan could even be considered a plan or suicidal, Barnum dropped to the ground the moment the bearded man pulled the trigger of the gun that was still aimed at his head so that the bullet flew over his head instead of through it.

Barnum lunged forwards and snatched the bearded man’s wrist, the arm which held the gun, and as he pulled down on the wrist Barnum brought his other hand up with as much strength as he possessed to press up on the man’s elbow. Barnum grunted loudly as the pain in his arm flared but it ignored it for the most part and gave one final shove, only letting go once a horrid noise echoed from the bearded man’s arm causing him to scream loudly as it was bent at an impossible angle. 

Barnum felt the cold look settle over his face, a look that he had not worn since his days of getting into street fights every other night as he fought to survive. The bearded man had fallen to his knees, clutching his obviously broken arm to his chest, cries of agony still escaping him. Barnum could see the faint outline of W.D, Phillip, Anne and probably Lettie and Tom all frozen off to the side staring at him, and for a split second he was terrified of what they might’ve been thinking as they looked at him. He had managed to put his past of getting into fights behind him, not even Charity knew about them but Barnum knew that the others could tell from the way he fought that he’d done it before and it was something he was good at it. 

Mentally pushing his worries to the side, Barnum forced the long forsaken polite grin back onto his face as he stared down at the bearded man, “Ahh, I’m sorry did that hurt?”

The man’s face twisted itself around and turned such an ugly shade of red, Barnum thought the man might’ve been choking.

“What the hell is the matter with you, ya fucking freak?!” Thick spit launched out between the man’s lips, landing in his beard.

Barnum tilted his head to the side as his grin widened and he flung his non injured arm out in a dramatic gesture, “Ah well of course I am! Everybody is really.” Barnum shrugged, “Thank you For reminding me. You are no longer welcome here at my circus, so make sure you stay away from here and away from my friends. Otherwise I can assure you I will make your life a living hell.”

Barnum having said what needed to be said, started to turn away from the man towards W.D, Phillip and the others however he froze and felt hot fury flow through him as the man screamed,

“Whatever. Like I wanna see some damned niggers and better off dead freaks!”

With no hesitation, Barnum’s face contorted revealing just how pissed off he was and he spun in a full circle, lifting his leg and sending his booted foot into the side of the man’s face. Feeling viciously happy as the man’s head snapped to the side and he collapsed to the ground face first with his butt in the air. 

Making sure to clear his face of any emotions, Barnum turned away from the bearded man’s still form and patted down his outfit, adjusting where a few wrinkles had formed and brushing away some dirt before he bent down and picked up his staff, not really remembering when he had dropped it but knowing he had. Standing up straight, Barnum met the other’s stares head on, refusing to let himself try and classify what emotions were on their faces as they looked at him. 

“What was that?” Phillip demanded, his voice sounding weak even to his own ears.

Lettie had a hand resting over her heart and Tom was staring at Barnum with his mouth wide open. W.D and Anne were holding onto each other and had a unreadable look in their eyes. 

But Barnum could’ve sworn he saw gratitude from the way Anne looked at him. 

Barnum raised a brow and cleared his throat before calmly saying, “That was simply self-defense,” Barnum smirked slightly in amusement, “After all, they threw the first punch.”

Tom snorted loudly and Barnum’s sharp gaze silenced anything he planned to say. Slowly Barnum slid his gaze over each of them before quietly stating.

“Next time someone tries jumping any of you, I was descriptions and names if possible.” When Barnum noticed how shocked they looked at his statement he added, “You didn’t think I didn’t notice did you? None of you are as sneaky as you like to believe. I left it alone for the most part simply because I knew you were at least being careful and Phillip was looking after any wounds you lot obtained. However if any begin to use weapons I don’t give a damn about your pride. You get the hell away from them and get help.”

When no one offered a explanation or saying anything really, Barnum sighed feeling slightly disappointed in not only them, but himself as well. “If you’ll excuse me, I must speak with the police seeing as they’re heading this way.”

When Anne winced, Barnum realized who called them. Not wanting her to think he was angry, Barnum said, “Whoever called them, thanks. You saved me the time of doing it myself.”

Walking past them all, Barnum couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard Tom saying, “Well shit. That was awesome!” 

Maybe they weren’t scared of him like others who’d seen him fight before...but Barnum wasn’t really willing to take that chance. They didn’t want him knowing about their fights with some of the protestors as of late and he didn’t want them knowing about his past of getting into fights. Barnum wanted to be able to put this whole night in the back of his memories, never to be looked at again, but he knew if he ignored the others seeing him fight then they wouldn’t come to him about any issues the protesters will undoubtedly end up causing any of them. 

Maybe they wouldn’t come to him regardless, after all they chose not to tell him about what’s been going on, even Phillip was keeping it a secret. 

Which hurt him more than Barnum felt comfortable admitting. 

What Barnum didn’t even notice was that the blood from his gunshot wound had began dripping down his arm and off his fingertips into the dirt floor. He didn’t notice but Tom certainly did and quickly pointed it out to the others who followed the trail on the ground until their eyes landed on Barnum who was standing near the edge of the tent, talking to a police officer while two others headed towards the men all unconscious on the ground. 

W.D frowned as he realized something about the way Barnum was standing, “He’s leaning against the doorway to keep himself up, isn’t he?”

Anne shot her brother a look before quickly looking over at Barnum, her expression frantic, “Please tell me he’s not going to try and hide a gunshot wound! He needs to go to the hospital!”

“Oh there’s no way I’m letting him just walk out of here without getting himself looked at.” Lettie promised, putting her hands on her hips and keeping her eyes on Barnum as though expecting him to suddenly fall over. 

Phillip couldn’t help but get a sinking feeling in his stomach that Barnum was somehow disappointed in them and it wouldn’t be as easy to get him to accept their help as Lettie acted like it would be. Phillip knew from the look W.D and Tom sent him that they felt the same as he did.

All in all the process of talking to the police, having the men being carried out of the tent and a few of them regaining consciousness and demanding to be set free, lasted a little over an hour and a half.

An hour and a half which the members of Barnum’s Circus spent worrying over how pale Barnum was getting and how none of the cops even seemed to notice that Barnum was injured, making them feel angry at not only the police but at Barnum for keeping it to himself. 

When a police officer just stood there calmly chatting with Barnum, Phillip decided he had enough and marched off towards the two of them calling out, “P.T!”

The officer eyed Phillip warily as he came over but once Barnum bid the officer a goodnight the man reluctantly left, taking with him his co-workers and the men who decided to assault Barnum as well. 

“Phillip-” Barnum began but was immediately cut off by Phillip angrily pointing a finger in his face.

“You’re hurt! Why on earth are you standing around here and not on your way to the hospital?!” Phillip yelled.

Anne rushed over and quickly placed a hand on Phillip’s shoulder to try and calm him down, which thankfully worked. 

Barnum sighed but before he could answer W.D came over with the others and they all quickly decided to add their own opinions.

“You need to go to the hospital, bullet wounds can kill you, you know?!”

“You’re bleeding, it’s better for you to get checked out before attempting to head home.”

“Don’t be a idiot and just go to the hospital. Don’t tell me you’re scared to?!”

Barnum pinched the bridge of his nose as slowly everyone began talking at once, slowly getting loudly as to be heard over one another. Finally having had enough as his head was beginning to hurt, Barnum yelled, “STOP!”

Abruptly every one of them snapped their jaws shut and stopped talking, though none of them looked pleased by it. 

Taking a deep breath in, Barnum calmly said, “I was waiting because I wanted to make sure the police understood what had happened and that how I reacted to the situation was in self defense and that none of you were involved in the matter.”

“What?” Phillip said blinking, “Why would you do that?”

“I knew if I didn’t then people would be able to twist things to go their own way against us when I prefer things to be in my favor.” Barnum smirked.

“But you will be going to the hospital?” Lettie asked as she stared at Barnum with narrowed eyes and her arms crossed. 

“Yes.” Barnum rolled his eyes, exasperated, “I’ll head on over in a few minutes. Let me make sure nothing was damaged and-”

Phillip snorted, “No. You and I are going to head over to the hospital now.”

Barnum raised a brow at Phillip but didn’t say anything in protest as he turned and asked W.D to look after the tent to see if anything was damaged and Lettie quickly offered to check if there was anyone hiding out anywhere in the tents and Tom offered to go with her.

Barnum turned to look at Anne as she gently laid her hand on his uninjured arm catching his attention.

“I could take care of that for you.” She said, and Barnum was confused until he caught sight of her staring at the torn fabric of his long red coat which he was well aware was stained with his blood. 

“You don’t-”

“I want to.” Anne whispered and Barnum couldn’t help but notice how the others were silent, just watching them, “I saw the look on your face when you heard what that man called us. You were angry.”

Barnum kept a blank look on his face as Anne continued speaking.

“The entire time you were fighting I noticed how you kept distracting them from seeing us. You also told Phillip and W.D to get away didn’t you? You were protecting us.”

The tone in Anne’s voice was both accusatory and sad. Making Barnum uncomfortable so he said nothing in response. Finally after a few minutes had passed, tense and heavy, Barnum slowly shrugged out of the coat and winced as he felt a twinge of pain in his arm as he handed it over to Anne’s outstretched arms. 

“Thank you.” She murmured looking down at the coat, more specifically the spot where it was obvious now that she help the coat up close where Barnum had bled. 

Without him wearing the coat, his wound was more obvious as was the blood spreading down his sleeve.

Barnum nodded but said nothing as he turned and walked off, out of the tent and towards the dirt road. Phillip shared a look with the others before quickly rushing after Barnum. The two of them should’ve called for a carriage, that would’ve been the smarter and safer thing to do, but instead the both of them stayed silent as they walked side by side down the road heading towards the hospital.

Phillip was lost in thought, thinking over everything that had happened that night and Barnum figured he’d enjoy the silence while he could. Eventually however as Barnum’s adrenaline rush began to fade he began to feel just how sore his body was and the actual amount of pain he was in at that very moment.

Barnum wasn’t even aware he stopped walking until Phillip had stopped as well and grasped his elbow. 

“P.T?” Phillip said softly, tightening his grip in worry when Barnum stumbled. 

“...Just tired now. Not as young as I use to be.” Barnum sighted quietly, but Phillip and him both knew that despite his age Barnum was stronger and more youthful then he should be. Phillip didn’t say a word as he kept his arm around Barnum’s own and allowed the older man to lean into him as they made the rest their way to the hospital.

They needed to talk about things, but for the moment they decided not too.


	2. Confrontation of a Different Kind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank all of you for your patience and kind reviews encouraging me. Also, thank you to The Greatest Showman Nerd. I'm hoping someday for the chance to read a story of yours!

Barnum was avoiding all of them. 

He still went to the circus and was the ringmaster for most of the shows since Phillip was still learning and working out a few kinks in the business part of the show, but other than that and appearing whenever the protesters became too riled up; Barnum made sure he wasn’t around long enough for one of the others to corner him.

It’s been four days since he had fought those protesters and Phillip had to half carry him back to his house which worried Charity. Barnum could tell that the others, mainly Phillip, were getting annoyed with his avoiding them. 

Having let Phillip take over for the second half of the shows tonight, Barnum headed towards his office intent on sitting at least for a few minutes before he headed home. What he wasn’t prepared for was to open his office door and see W.D sitting in front of his desk as though waiting for him, which Barnum quickly realized was exactly what W.D had done. 

“B-”

“A-Ah, W.D sorry to cut you off but I’m in a bit of a hurry to get home.” Barnum said smiling as he held his hands out in a “What can you do” gesture. 

“When are you going to stop running away from us?!” W.D snapped, startling Barnum, “I-I’m sorry, but Barnum why are you running? You know you don’t have to with us, don’t you?”

“I’m no-”

“Yes, you are!” W.D stood up and stalked towards Barnum, “We saw you fighting, so what? You kicked their asses and don’t think I didn’t notice how you didn’t let truly let loose on that guy until you heard what he called Anne and me.”

Barnum looked away from W.D causing W.D to frown, “What are you so ashamed about? You protected us...what’s wrong with that?”

Barnum muttered something under his breath as he looked behind him at the door almost longingly. 

“What was that?” W.D asked, not even sure if it was Barnum he had actually heard considering how quiet he was in comparison of the noise from the circus.

“...I saw how you all looked...at me…” Barnum said softly, hesitantly meeting W.D’s eyes, which was uncharacteristic of him to not show confidence in his actions. 

W.D was surprised to see the pain in Barnum’s eyes.

“After the fight, all of you looked terrified of me W.D. That’s not something I want to be reminded of any time I talk to you lot so…”

“...So, you avoided us.” W.D finished, sitting back almost as though in disbelief. 

Barnum’s silence was enough of an answer, W.D sighed and gestured towards Barnum’s desk before taking his seat in front of it once more, “Mind sitting? I have a feeling we’ll be here a while.”

“Why?” 

“Because we need to talk.” W.D said calmly, quickly standing to pull the curtains shut before returning to his seat, “If you want to try running off, I want you to know I’d follow you.” 

Reluctantly Barnum walked around to his desk and took a seat, he assumed W.D would start talking right away but instead W.D just stared at him as though just realizing something truly important. 

“We are not scared of you.” W.D stated leaning forward over the desk, meeting Barnum’s eyes earnestly, “Shocked yes. You fighting like that it...it was not something we expected to see. Ever. That doesn’t mean we’re scared of you.” 

“...”

“We’re not!” W.D stood back up, the force of jumping to his feet sending the chair tumbling backward, and looked down at Barnum, “Why’re you so intent on believing we’re scared of you? You protected us, and you got hurt in the process!” 

W.D’s eyes narrowed, “Wait. Did you even go to the hospital and get yourself looked over?” 

Barnum quickly looked up and said, “Yes. Well, not the hospital but Phillip helped get me home and I called a friend of mine, who’s a doctor, to come help me out. He says I’m fine.” 

“I thought the two of you left for the hospital?” W.D raised a brow in question.

“We were on our way there when I realized it was unnecessary. It only would have succeeded in worrying Charity and being a waste of money when my friend could’ve aided me.”

“I’d rather you have gone to a hospital.”

“I saw a doctor.” Barnum quickly countered.

“No, you saw a friend who you could’ve persuaded that you were okay,” W.D replied with his arms crossed over his chest.

“It’s been four days W.D, I promise you I’m fine,” Barnum said exasperated. 

W.D snorted, “P.T I know how good you are at changing people’s minds. What did your friend say? How badly hurt were you?”

Barnum scowled slightly and crossed his arms, “It was only a few bumps and bruises, nothing too bad,”

“You were shot!” 

“It grazed me, trust me if I was shot I’d know.” Barnum sighed and ran a hand down his face, “W.D it’s been a long day...could we finish this discussion or wait until another day? I’d much rather be at home in bed with my wife.”

W.D moved to block the office door, his shoulders hunched as he spoke, “We distracted you.”

“Huh?”

“We made you look away from that man and because of that you were shot.”

Barnum’s eyes widened as he realized what W.D was getting at, him and Phillip blamed themselves for him being shot.

“That was neither of your faults,” Barnum said firmly, standing and striding over towards W.D. “Nor do I blame any of you for what happened.”

W.D was shaking by the time Barnum made it over to him, “He put the gun to your head, Barnum. Your head! You could’ve died!”

Unsure if it was the right move or not, Barnum pulled W.D towards him into a hug. It was loose in case he wanted to back away but instead, W.D wrapped his arms around Barnum tightly.

“Thanks for looking out for us P.T...but... don't go dying for us either.”

Barnum chose not to tell W.D that he would gladly, any time if it meant keeping them all safe. Though he would never go down without a fight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is definitely shorter than the first one, but that's because I intended for the first one to be the only one. Hopefully, the next chapter is longer.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel as though this could've been longer or worded differently but whenever I tried changing things up it just didn't seem right to me. I'm sorry if this comes off as randomness. 
> 
> Next story will be labeled as "Fighting Cholera", not really a good title but it was a request I want to be recognized by TheresaM as theirs.


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